Shooting in Slow motion

[Guest Gabriela Castanon]

Hi there guys,

 

How do you shoot in slow motion? I heard that some camera operators who shoot mainly sports, specialise in shooting in slow motion.

 

How do you do it? Are the procedures and principles the same for all cameras, or do they differ from camera to camera? Are they the same for digital/HD/DV/ film cameras? If the principles etc are different, pleaswe can you explain the differences.

 

Thanks.

 

Regards,

 

Andrea

[robin pront]

I do LSM'(live-editing for soccer games) and although I haven't spoken to the camera men-and women I know that they use special high-res lenses for slow-motion. I'm far

from an expert and somebody here will gave you a more 'sophisticated' answer

[Nick Mulder]

Hi there guys,

 

How do you shoot in slow motion? I heard that some camera operators who shoot mainly sports, specialise in shooting in slow motion.

 

How do you do it? Are the procedures and principles the same for all cameras, or do they differ from camera to camera? Are they the same for digital/HD/DV/ film cameras? If the principles etc are different, pleaswe can you explain the differences.

 

Thanks.

 

Regards,

 

Andrea

 

Dont know about high-res lenses or the need for them but:

 

Procedures are very different from film to DV/HD and then again for tape based digital video and non-tape based storage, but that aint my field so I'll leave that for someone else to cover ...

 

But for film its basically shooting with a higher FPS - i.e. running the motor faster or letting the spring run more freely ... simple as that, depending on the subject though you may want to have the speed be some nice factor of the intended playback speed - eg. shoot at 48fps (xtal) for 2x slomo in 24fps systems - probably helpful in motion control...

 

Other setups you can probably just run wild like 'around 150fps' or 4000fps+ with some specialized cameras - most standard cameras top out from 64-200fps before a specialty camera is needed (or pressure plates have to exert too much pressure to retain a weave-free image) ...

 

By running a camera faster you also have to increase the light hitting the film as the exposure become the reciprocal of the speed factor - ie. 2x slowmo equals 1/2 as much light on the film which in turn means you either need to open up a stop, double up your lighting or double the shutter angle ...

 

Doubling the shutter angle is the ideal solution as upon playback your footage has the same motion-blur aesthetic as normal footage - again, specialty cameras required for this as we tend to shoot at the max shutter angle at normal speeds anyway ... a catch22

 

Its quite a broad 'question' you've asked...

[Xavier Plaza]

Hi Gabriela

 

I agree with Nick. Take a look of this links and galleries. I hope someday be able to use weisscam :rolleyes: , looks great

 

Best

 

Xavier Plaza

 

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_speed_camera

 

http://www.visionresearch.com/index.cfm?se...mp;page=Gallery

 

http://www.weisscam.com/

[Kevin Zanit]

Do a search, I, and many others have written several items on extreme high-speed camera work. In the newest issue of Student Filmmaker magazine I have an article I wrote on the topic. But do a search here, its be talked about a lot.

 

My companies website, http://www.studiobattlerattle.com has a lot of examples of 500fps and 1000fps work.

 

Kevin Zanit

[Xavier Plaza]

Do a search, I, and many others have written several items on extreme high-speed camera work. In the newest issue of Student Filmmaker magazine I have an article I wrote on the topic. But do a search here, its be talked about a lot.

 

My companies website, http://www.studiobattlerattle.com has a lot of examples of 500fps and 1000fps work.

 

Kevin Zanit

 

Hi Kevin great footage, just one doubt, when you shoot at 500 or 1000 fps, what kind of light did you use?. I guess tungsten obviously and the source have to be big, i think 5k and 10k minimum to avoid flicker, or you use HMI i think using HMI you win useful power (more than tungsten) but in the same way you win flicker ???

Well any way great footage...

 

Thanks

 

 

Xavier Plaza

[Mitch Gross]

For info on shooting high speed, particularly with the Phantom HD camera, look to my Phantom HD FAQ on our website, abelcine.com. It explains many of the issues and working procedures for high speed shooting on a digital camera, and there is a brief section on lighting for high speed as well.

[Guest Gabriela Castanon]

Thanks Nick,

 

What do you mean by shutter angle, and where would I normally find the button to control it, (especially on a DVCAM and a normal studio broadcasting camera, but I would also like to know where on an HD or film camera).

 

How does the shutter angle affect the quality of your picture?

 

Bye,

 

Andrea

[Xavier Plaza]

Thanks Nick,

 

What do you mean by shutter angle, and where would I normally find the button to control it, (especially on a DVCAM and a normal studio broadcasting camera, but I would also like to know where on an HD or film camera).

 

How does the shutter angle affect the quality of your picture?

 

Bye,

 

Andrea

 

 

Andrea I recommended search in the forum you have a lot of info about shutter angle and how affect the quality of the picture

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_angle

http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...?showtopic=8069

 

Best

 

 

Xavier Plaza

[Kevin Zanit]

Thanks, the lighting was all tungsten, mostly 10ks with maybe one 5k. Any tungsten source smaller than a 5k will flicker at these speeds. HMIs are hopeless.

 

Kevin Zanit